Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are finding application in error correction for hard disk drives due to their simplicity and effectiveness. Due to the specific requirements of hard disk drive applications, an LDPC coded iterative system needs to be compatible with both size-512 byte (B) sector based systems and size-4 kilobyte (KB) sector based systems.
To optimize or at least reduce the system complexity, these two systems have to share a majority part of the system logic, while maintaining good error correcting performance for both sector sizes. Compared with conventional size-512 B sector only system, a size-4 KB sector based system is expected to have better error correcting performance because of the potential codeword length and the presence of longer interleavers. Thus, special system designs are needed to minimize the overall system complexity and improve the error correcting performance.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for improved implementation of low-density parity-check coding.